On the way to becoming a manager

It was Monday late afternoon when I received a call. A young-sounding male voice was on the phone. "Good afternoon. My name is Achim Kern. I read on your website that you support young managers in the next step of their careers."

"That's right," I said, "how can I help you?"

"I'm a food engineer and have been with a large corporation for eight years now. I enjoy the work, but I would like to develop myself further".

"What do you currently do?", I asked.

"I've been in key accounts for three years and have been very successful there. But I would like to take the next step towards management responsibility".

"OK, I understand that. Do you have a resume you can send me? Can be an older one if you like. And then I would suggest we meet for an in-depth interview". "That sounds good, have it later tonight".

We met a few days later around evening, because he was fully in the job. Right from our first conversation, he- turned out to have done well in his exams and had very good sales skills for an engineer. He was good looking, strong in relationships, had a noticeable presence as a personality. I could well imagine that he would quickly gain access to the customer.

"You know," he said, "one of the things that frustrates me most about my job right now is that I get a lot of special projects, all of which are very challenging and many times now I've also taken on leadership of mixed teams, but my boss always says it's too early to take on line management responsibilities. I'm in my mid-thirties now, how long am I supposed to wait?"

"I can relate to that. I think with what you have to show for it so far, you should have a chance."

"You really think so?"

"If we build your profile properly and find the right companies, I think so".

We developed a convincing profile with the clear goal of initial management responsibility and shortly thereafter launched targeted application activities through various channels.

Within the next three months, we made a whole series of interesting contacts in the European environment, including a competitor with an international product range and an interesting position. They were looking for the Head of Key Accounts for the Western European market, who would manage four Key Account Managers and, as an additional task, begin to develop new markets.

But getting the job did not prove to be easy. It took very good interview preparation. He survived the first round, remained in the group of applicants in the second round and was finally able to prevail in the final round. His internationality, his appearance, his wide-ranging project experience and his palpable will to make a difference ultimately tipped the scales in his favor. And he was also able to significantly improve his salary.

We sat relaxed at our last meeting. He had signed the contract and resigned. Of course, he still had to finish his projects, but four weeks of vacation were just around the corner until the new job started. He smiled at me, and I could tell he had something else to get off his chest.

"I still have to tell you this," he began, "my boss was very surprised when I resigned. He hadn't expected that, although we often talked about next steps. And suddenly there was even a counter-offer. I just said, "Too late. He didn't like that, but he had his chance."

"Still," I said, "remember, you always meet twice in life".

"That's true", he replied "after all we didn't part on bad terms". One more question. If I were to go into this new responsibility, would you support me in it?"

"Of course," I replied, "I'll stay by your side as long as you want me to."

Remember, you always meet twice in life.